Not with a bang but with a whimper. Well, actually with a bit of both, as it seems that the BBC's long-running motor show Top Gear may have finally left our screens.
ADVERTISEMENTJust one month after the 20th anniversary of the topical car show in its current format, and 46 years after its original debut, the BBC has announced that Top Gear will be taken off air and it will not return “for the foreseeable future”.
The BBC has “decided to rest the UK show” after presenter and ex-cricket star Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff was injured in a car crash during filming last year.
In December 2022, Flintoff was flown to hospital after a high-speed crash at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey. The BBC responded by suspending the 34th series of the show. Flintoff has spoken out that he is still recovering from “life-altering significant injuries”.
The BBC has officially apologised to Flintoff for the accident. It conducted an external health and safety review and has reached a settlement with the former England cricketer for €10.3 million in compensation.
Although this is the end for now of the UK show, the BBC has reassured fans that international and digital formats will be unaffected by this decision.
Top Gear first hit UK screens in 1977 as a motoring magazine programme.
Between 1997 and 2001, multiple presenters gave sober reviews of the latest cars entering the market alongside informative content on driving trends in the UK.
When it was cancelled at the end of 2001, Jeremy Clarkson, one of the previous presenters suggested a format change to revive the show the next year. Launched on 20 October 2002, the new iteration of Top Gear was still a topical show about cars but now was focused on being entertaining over informative.
Alongside presenters Richard Hammond and James May, Clarkson’s reinvigorated Top Gear was a ratings boon. The show’s humorous challenges and celebrity interviews saw it become one of the most watched shows on British television and sparked multiple international versions, a magazine and a live show.
During this era, Hammond also suffered a life-changing crash. In 2006, he was injured while piloting a jet-powered car at 319 mph (513 km/h). The opening episode of the 2007 series where a semi-healed Hammond returned aired to more than eight million viewers.
This era was also beset by controversies, many over the crude humour the trio used.
Finally, in 2015 after multiple warnings over racism complaints against Clarkson, the presenter was fired from the show following a physical altercation with one of its producers.
Hammond and May left the show in solidarity and started presenting the Amazon Prime show The Grand Tour from 2016 onwards.
Top Gear continued on the BBC with new presenters including ex-Friends star Matt LeBlanc. These presenters were then changed again in 2019 for the most recent line-up including Flintoff.
Following the news of the show being taken off air, ex-presenter May has said that “it does need a bit of a rethink.”
While quelling any suggestion that he, Clarkson and Hammond would return, he added: “I'd be really surprised if it is gone forever.”
